Title
Applied science facilitates the large-scale expansion of protected areas in an Amazonian hot spot
Date of this Version
7-1-2021
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Meeting international commitments to protect 17% of terrestrial ecosystems worldwide will require >3 million square kilometers of new protected areas and strategies to create those areas in a way that respects local communities and land use. In 2000–2016, biological and social scientists worked to increase the protected proportion of Peru’s largest department via 14 interdisciplinary inventories covering >9 million hectares of this megadiverse corner of the Amazon basin. In each landscape, the strategy was the same: convene diverse partners, identify biological and sociocultural assets, document residents’ use of natural resources, and tailor the findings to the needs of decision-makers. Nine of the 14 landscapes have since been protected (5.7 million hectares of new protected areas), contributing to a quadrupling of conservation coverage in Loreto (from 6 to 23%). We outline the methods and enabling conditions most crucial for successfully applying similar campaigns elsewhere on Earth.
DOI
10.1126/sciadv.abe2998
Recommended Citation
Pitman, Nigel C.A.; Vriesendorp, Corine F.; Reyes, Diana Alvira; Moskovits, Debra K.; Kotlinski, Nicholas; Smith, Richard C.; Thompson, Michelle E.; Wali, Alaka; Matarazzo, Margarita Benavides; Del Campo, Álvaro; Rivera González, Dani E.; Chávez, Lelis Rivera; Rosenthal, Amy D.; Alonso, José Álvarez; Ñaupari, María Elena Díaz; De Souza, Lesley S.; Ferreyra Vela, Freddy R.; Tanchiva, Cristian Ney Gonzales; Jarrett, Christopher C.; and Lemos, Ana A., "Applied science facilitates the large-scale expansion of protected areas in an Amazonian hot spot" (2021). All Faculty. 358.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/all_faculty/358